Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 50-36658 discloses a conventional connector device adapted to holding straight glass-tube fuses. In this regard, the connector disclosed in Japanese Publication No. 50-36658 includes a fuse box base having pairs of U-shaped fuse holders formed from a resilient electrically conductive metal sheet. The fuse holders are fashioned so as to have inwardly tapered faces at the respective ends of the metal sheet which are arcuately shaped so as to be suitable for holding a respective end of a cylindrical glass-tube fuse.
The sides of the fuse holders are provided with elongate slots which register with projections formed on opposing sides of mounting holes formed in the fuse box base. The fuse holders are thus coupled to the fuse box base by means of the projections being inserted within a respective one of the slots. Each of the projections is, moreover, provided with a recessed groove which engages an edge associated with a respective one of the slots when the fuse holders are positioned within the fuse box base so as to prevent the fuse holder from becoming uncoupled. Thus, according to this prior art proposal, fuse holders are reliably coupled to a fuse box base, but can be easily exchanged when desired.
However, external electrically conducting members, such as lead wires, typically must be soldered to the fuse holders of the above-described prior art device when the fuse holders are to be coupled to an electrical circuit. Alternatively, a relatively narrow conducting strip (termed a "bus bar" in art parlance) must be caulked to the fuse holders in order to establish electrical connection. Thus, one disadvantage of the prior art device described above is that soldering and/or caulking tools are required in order to electrically connect the fuse holders to an electrical circuit. As a result, electrical connection is difficult (if not impossible) in dark or confined locations (e.g., the interior of an automobile's engine compartment).
In addition, in order to mount the fuse holders onto supporting structure which is itself electrically conductive, such as the body and chassis components of an automobile, it is necessary to place special insulating bushings between each of the holders and the electrically conductive support structure. As a result, installation of the holders becomes somewhat tedious and thus labor-intensive.
Moreover, since the contact members of the holders tend to generate heat during operation of the electrical components, the entire fuse box is typically required to made of a relatively expensive, heat-resistant plastics material, such as nylon-66.
Thus, what has been needed in this art is a connector assembly which allows external conducting members to more easily and reliably be coupled to the electrical component holders associated with the connector assembly without the need for special connecting tools. In addition, what has been needed is a connector assembly which can easily and reliably be connected to virtually any supporting structure without regard to the supporting structure's electrical conductivity so that the need for special insulating bushings and the like can be avoided. It is towards satisfying these needs that the present invention is directed.